


Fear The Reaper

by SleepingAshes



Series: Overwatch Soulmate AU [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Blackwatch Era, Blackwatch Genji Shimada, Blackwatch Jesse McCree, Blackwatch Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Demonic Possession, Fall of Overwatch, Heavy Angst, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Major Character Injury, Possession, Pre-Fall of Overwatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 04:37:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepingAshes/pseuds/SleepingAshes
Summary: The possession of Gabriel Reyes was a slow and painful thing.





	Fear The Reaper

**Author's Note:**

> Another installment of my soulmate au with heavy focus on how Gabriel became Reaper. Character death is never permanent in Overwatch and all mentioned things of it are already in canon! They'll all be back.

Jack paced impatiently in the waiting room. He didn’t understand how things had gone so horribly wrong. The mission was supposed to be a bit rough, sure, but it wasn’t supposed to end up like  _ this _ . Gabriel could die and it was his fault and he knew it too. He knew it was all on him and it made this so much worse.

If he’d just moved quicker, or if he’d been paying more attention...he would have noticed the enemy and dodged the bullet. Gabriel never should have had to step between him and that bullet. Gabriel shouldn’t be in surgery right now, fighting for his life all over Jack’s mistakes.

“Fuck…” He muttered to himself.

He was only snapped out of his self loathing when he heard footsteps approaching quickly. He turned to see Ana and Jesse hurriedly coming towards him. He didn’t want to deal with this-- not right now. He didn’t want to explain to Ana what happened and he didn’t want to have to handle Jesse. He’d be too emotional and Jack couldn’t deal with that right now.

“What happened?” Ana demanded as soon as she spotted Jack.

“Gabriel was shot--”

“Where.” Jesse spoke next.

“Chest.”

Jesse let out a loud curse and shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair roughly, trying to stay calm but he didn’t know if he could. Jack didn’t trust him to anyways.

“How did this happen?” Ana muttered, mostly to herself. “If I had been there…”

“You weren’t.” Jack said, “What happened...it’s done.”

The words left a bitter taste in Jack’s mouth but he knew it was the truth. He couldn’t change what happened no matter how badly he wanted to. No matter how bad the guilt was eating him alive.

“We just have to wait.” Jack forced out. He had to keep his composure now that he wasn’t alone. He had to set an example--

“Bullshit.” Jesse said. “I’m not just gonna sit here and do jack shit.”

“What the  _ fuck  _ do you think you can do?” Jack snapped. “You think I don’t wish I could do

something? Anything? I  _ can’t _ , you can’t,”

Jesse frowned and stepped up to Jack, glaring daggers at him.

“Why are you even here?” Jack spat, shoving Jesse, “He’s just your boss, what makes you think you get to be here?”

“You don’t know a fuckin thing about what me and Gabe are.” Jesse shoved him right back, “You don’t get to say shit to me when this is your fault in the goddamn first place--”

“That’s  _ enough _ !” Ana shouted, catching both of them off guard. “Neither of you are going to act like entitled brats when  _ our friend _ could be dying! Shame on both of you!”

There were a few uncomfortable moments of silence that passed. Jesse moved first, going to sit in one of the chairs in the waiting area. It took him all of two seconds before he caved and pulled out a cigar. Jack grimaced but said nothing.

Neither of them dared to look at each other after their confrontation, even if Jesse wanted more information. Luckily for him, Ana asked most of the questions he wanted answers to. They had been tracking a terrorist group for weeks. Finally found their base and the plan had been to take them unexpected. Jack had asked for Gabriel to be there personally, something Jack would take back if he could. 

The day the raid was to take place, things fell apart and the group had somehow been aware they were coming. Jack had to acknowledge someone had sold them out, but it wasn’t on his mind right now. He’d figure it out when he knew if Gabriel was going to be ok or not.

“Gabriel saw the shooter before I did. I didn’t even notice them until Gabe was already in front of me…” Jack explained, “I couldn’t process what happened. I’ve seen a lot of death before but I never thought I’d see  _ him _ …”

Jack had to pause and collect himself for a moment.

“It was harder than I thought it’d be.”

“How long has he been in surgery?” Ana asked.

“I don’t know...about an hour now? They started as soon as we got back.”

“That’s good. He made it back here didn’t he? He’s a fighter and you know that as well as I do. He won’t let this take him out.”

“I fucking hope you’re right.” Jack admitted.

The three sat in silence as time ticked on. The more time went by, the darker Jack’s thoughts got. What if Gabriel didn’t make it out of this? Ana tried to be confident in saying Gabe would fight through this but she hadn’t seen him. She wasn’t there. She didn’t have to see blood gushing from the wound, she didn’t have to try to stop it before Gabriel died.

When the door to the operation room finally opened, the three had no idea how much time had passed. It seemed like an eternity. Angela stood in the doorway, looking exhausted and emotional. It took her a moment before she finally began talking,

“It took a long time...and there were quite a few scares...but he’s alive. He’s no longer in any danger.” She explained, “He’s going to need to take it easy though. He had a close call and I just...I can’t imagine the toll that will take on his body. Either way, if you’d like to see him now, he’s awake. I suggest going one by one as to not tire him out.”

Jack went first. He tried to ignore the guilt twisting at his insides and just talk to him. He approached Gabriel’s bed, catching the man’s attention and having him slowly look over to him. Gabriel smiled at the sight of him.

“I can’t believe you’re smiling after getting shot.” Jack sighed, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”

“Sue me for being happy you’re alright.” Gabriel said, slurring slightly.

It vaguely processed in Jack’s mind that Gabriel was most likely on a hell of a lot of painkillers.

“Next time just push me out of the way instead of using yourself as a human shield.”

Gabriel let out a laugh.

“Next time? Hopefully there’s no next time.” He paused for a moment and frowned, “I didn’t know what to do. I just reacted.”

“You scared the shit out of me.” Jack admitted, “I thought you were gonna die.”

“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Gabriel tried to smile to lighten the mood, but he knew it wasn’t likely to do much. “Better me in this bed than you.”

“Oh, bullshit.” Jack’s words had no bite, he just felt himself starting to get emotional over the whole situation. “If I had just  _ seen _ the shooter… We wouldn’t be here right now. You’d be fine.”

“Jack, I am fine. Or I will be.” Gabriel’s tone was serious, “I’m not dead, I’m not gonna die anytime soon. I’m gonna be fine.”

*

Gabriel liked to think he was actually fine in the days following his release from Angela’s care. Sure, it hurt a bit, but there weren’t any lasting effects he had to worry about. According to Angela, he’d been extremely lucky. He probably should be dead, but he wasn’t. He was alive, he wasn’t irreversibly damaged by the experience...if some occasional pain was all he had to worry about then he’d admit it. He was pretty damn lucky.

The pain in his chest was something he expected, but after a few days there became a burning sensation on his arm. There was nothing there, it just  _ hurt _ . It was irritating to deal with and he had no idea why it wouldn’t go away, so he went to Angela.

“You’re sure you did nothing different? No different soaps, you didn’t spill anything on your arm at all?” She asked, inspecting the area he claimed to be burning.

“Nothing different at all.” Gabriel mumbled.

“The skin doesn’t look irritated or like it’s having an allergic reaction… Strange.” She hummed, thinking, “I can’t prescribe anything if I don’t see symptoms...I would try to get through it today but if it doesn’t work, try any drug store pain relief and see if that helps. If not...I’ll see what I can do.”

Gabriel got through it the rest of the day with it only being a minor inconvenience. The next day he wasn’t so lucky. The burning only got worse and Gabriel was sure the skin was starting to look irritated by now, but he went and got generic pain relief medicine and waited for the next day. By the end of the third day the “irritation” on the skin had seemed to come together to begin spelling a word out.

It vaguely reminded Gabriel of how his soulmate’s names would appear on his other arm, but this was obviously not the case. When a soulmate’s name appeared, it never hurt. It was just...there. This was getting painful and worrisome. Unable to come up with an answer himself, he went to Angela.

He showed her his arm immediately and the word that had begun forming.

_ Reaper _

“What is it?” Gabriel asked as she inspected it. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“It isn’t unheard of.” Angela began, “Occasionally throughout history people can have the names of people who aren’t their soulmates appear on their arm. Usually someone considered an enemy. It’s...extremely rare though, I’ve never actually seen it until now.”

“What so this Reaper guy is some asshole I’m gonna fight? I’ve never had this with any of the other people I’ve taken down.”

“It’s more than that. It’s never been just someone you’ll fight or dislike.”

“So someone who could kill me one day?”

Angela nodded slowly.

“Could it just be the person who shot me?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out… It’s unlikely, but it could have just appeared late.”

Gabriel sighed heavily,

“And if it’s not…”

“Then I suggest caution.”

“Right.”

Gabriel looked down at his arm again and frowned. The writing was different from the names on his other arm. It looked more like it was being carved into his arm. It was ugly and sharp whereas the names of his soulmates were more like tattoos in neat handwriting. He’d deal with the name being there, but not knowing who this Reaper was put him at a disadvantage.

“If my life is in danger again, how am I supposed to know who Reaper is? That’s gotta be a codename right? That doesn’t happen with soulmates so why is it happening with this guy?”

“I couldn’t say… Maybe Reaper really is the name they were born and raised with?” Angela paused for a moment, “I know you really can do whatever you want...but I do want you to be careful from now on. This isn’t a good sign.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Gabriel said, “If we could keep this between us for now…”

“Certainly.”

“Thanks, Angela.”

*

Once the name was fully formed, Gabriel began expecting a sneak attack or to be sniped at any moment. The days ticked by and turned into weeks, but nothing ever happened. He began thinking maybe he wasn’t in as much danger as Angela made it seem. He wasn’t even back on missions yet so why was he so paranoid? Things were beginning to feel normal again, so he wanted to forget the name on his arm and just get on with life.

He rarely did get what he wanted in life.

Gabriel began losing sleep over nightmares, if you could call them that. It felt too real but he never understood what scared him so much once he woke up. While it was real in the moment, afterwards it was almost as if he couldn’t remember. He just knew there was this tightness in his stomach that reminded him of the war and the death surrounding it.

But the war was over, he had done well to cope and he wasn’t going to let some bad dreams freak him out and remind him of those times. After he gave up on trying to sleep, he’d go train until the others woke up. Occasionally he’d run into one of his agents, usually Genji Shimada. They’d train together and teach each other new tricks.

“You know,” Genji said one night, “You’re showing up earlier and earlier lately.”

“And you’re almost always here before I am.” Gabriel shot back, “If anyone should be getting a lecture on their sleep schedule, it should be you.”

“I have other things to help me through the day.” Genji said quietly, “You just have to rely on your own stamina.”

“I’ve got a lot of it and this’ll pass. These kinds of things always do.”

“...What do you dream about?” Genji asked, “We all have our demons but what are yours?”

“The funny thing is...I can’t remember my dreams. I just know what I think about when I wake up.” Gabriel sighed, “I think...I think a lot about the people I lost during the omnic crisis. I think a lot about how I used to stay up at night wondering if tomorrow was the day I was going to lose Jack or Ana.”

“And your own life?”

“No, I never really thought about it. I don’t know if that was me being reckless or over confident.” He admitted, “But there’s a lot more people I have to lose now.”

“I can understand that. For me, I went from not caring very much about anything at all to caring too much about the people around me. It’s a strange feeling; I’m still getting used to it.”

“When you talk about what you were like before all this, I always find it so hard to picture it. You’re so serious about everything now.”

“I’m surrounded by serious people.” Genji countered, “This isn’t the place for who I used to be. I’m not...changed, I’m just acting how I think everyone expects me to.”

“You should loosen up a bit.”

“There are some people here who could tell you I can be very loose.” Genji said, smirking.

Gabriel nearly choked on laughter.

“ _ That  _ was horrible.”

“Those types of lines granted me many happy nights while I was in Hanamura.”

“I don’t know, I think I doubt that.”

“Maybe my hair was a part of it though. Did you know I used to have green hair?”

“No, I didn’t.” Gabriel looked at him closely, trying to picture it. “I can’t see it.”

“Maybe one day I’ll dye it back. Or maybe I’ll dye it red to match my armor.”

“Now that I’d like to see. I’ll even buy you the hair dye if you want.”

Genji chuckled, shaking his head.

“You’re a bad influence, commander.”

“Just say Jesse dared you to do it. No one will question it.”

“Throwing Jesse under the bus? I can do that.”

There was a moment of silence that passed. It was comfortable, calming almost. Gabriel would have to seriously thank Genji later for these late night sparring sessions and talks. He almost felt like he could go back to sleep if he really wanted to.

“You look tired.” Genji said, breaking the silence. “You’ll exhaust yourself if you don’t sleep.”

“I know.”

“Angela could give you something to try to help you sleep.” Genji offered, “She does it for me sometimes.”

“I might just cave and ask her if I can’t do this myself.”

*

Gabriel’s sleep problems progressed to the point where he was fairly certain he was just going to become a liability. He began falling asleep at his desk doing paperwork and dozing off during meetings with Jack. He tried every natural remedy he could think of, but the dreams only seemed to get worse and worse.

He could remember his dreams now, though he wished he didn’t. Vivid nightmares of his fellow agents dying were not what he wanted to think about all day. Sometimes it was just his agents, other times it was Jack, Jesse, Ana-- his friends.

He finally was ready to ask Angela for help. He was about to walk into her office when he heard a familiar voice seemingly throwing a fit.

“I don’t know what the fuck this is, all I know is it showed up on the mission and I want it gone!” Jesse’s voice was saying, “It fucking hurts!”

“Jesse, please, calm down,” Angela was trying, “Unfortunately I can’t do anything about it… It’s going to stay there.”

“How do you know that for sure? Look it obviously aint a soulmate’s name, I lost that arm, so how do you know it can’t go away?”

“I have that name on my arm too. It hasn’t gone away and I’m under the impression it won’t.”

“Do you at least know who this Reaper person is?”

Gabriel knew he probably shouldn’t have revealed he was eavesdropping, but he walked in immediately after hearing Jesse say the name. Angela looked surprised but Jesse just looked irritated.

“Angela, what the hell is going on?” Gabriel demanded.

“I don’t know--”

“Jesse let me see your arm.”

A little confused, Jesse held out his arm for Gabriel to see. Sure enough the name Reaper was written in the same handwriting as the one on his own arm. Gabriel wouldn’t show it then, but it made him panic. This person was a threat to not only him now, but Jesse too.

“Angela you said Reaper would be a threat to  _ me, _ so why is it on his arm too?” Gabriel asked, turning to Angela.

“I don’t know. Gabriel I told you before I’ve never seen this actually happen, I don’t know why the name is appearing on other people…”

“Who else has it?”

“As far as I know, just me and Jesse.” Angela said, looking away from him, “I didn’t want to tell you like this.”

“Did you plan on telling me at all?”

“Eventually, yes,” Angela sighed, “I was trying to make sense of it first but I don’t know enough about it to do so.”

“Wait, wait,” Jesse cut in, “Gabe, you got this name on your arm too?”

“Yeah it appeared a few days after the surgery.” Gabriel admitted, “Nothing happened so I thought it was a fluke but…I don’t know, obviously I was wrong. If it’s showing up more then there’s obviously something dangerous about it.”

“Well fuck.” Jesse stood there for a moment, silent. “Does it stop hurting?”

“After the name is fully formed it will stop.” Angela mumbled, “Unfortunately until then there’s not much I can do to help.”

Jesse scoffed and took out a cigar. He didn’t have to be told not to smoke in Angela’s office, so he said his goodbyes then went to distract himself from the burning on his arm. That left a bit of a tense silence between Gabriel and Angela.

“I’ll figure out what’s going on. I promise.” Angela said, at last. “I’m sorry for not telling you.”

“What matters is I know now. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know”

*

Gabriel wanted to sleep. He just wanted to get through the night for once. He wasn’t doing well on two or three hours and he knew it would only get worse. The sleep medication Angela had given him barely helped. Sure he’d sleep, but then he was trapped in his nightmares for longer. He decided he’d rather risk sleeping without them. At least then he could wake up when it all became too much.

He knew it wasn’t a long term fix to things and he knew it wasn’t healthy. He didn’t know how it looked, but he knew it felt horrible. He felt like he was going insane due to the lack of sleep. Really, he was pretty sure he’d begun hearing things. Whispers in the back of his mind when he felt about ready to pass out. It scared him, but he wouldn’t tell anyone about it.

Telling someone meant admitting to himself this was getting unhealthy. That meant he had a problem and he wasn’t ready to admit that this was too big for him to handle. Even if Gabriel didn’t want to say it, people started catching on that something was off. Ana was the first to approach him about it.

“You look like you haven’t slept in ages.” She said as she walked into his office.

“Hello to you too.” Gabe grumbled in reply.

“People are getting worried.”

“It’s nothing anyone needs to worry about.”

Ana frowned.

“What’s keeping you from sleeping?”

“Nightmares. Nothing new.”

“It’s never been this bad for you before.” Ana argued. “Gabriel...do you need someone to talk to? You seem stressed more than usual and I don’t blame you if it’s getting to you--”

“Ana I’m  _ fine _ .”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. It’ll pass. It’s nothing serious.”

Gabriel felt a headache coming on. He didn’t want to sound rude, but he wanted Ana to leave. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have right then. Her lecturing him on things he already knew wasn’t going to help and--  _ She’s nothing but a bother, _ a voice in the back of his mind said.  _ She doesn’t know a damn thing. _

“Shut up.” Gabriel snapped before he could think better of it, “Just shut up.”

Ana looked confused.

“Gabriel, I didn’t say anything.”

“Not you-- nevermind, Ana. Can you just...I need to be alone right now.”

“Gabriel…”

“Ana.” Gabriel glared at her, perhaps a bit harshly, “Leave.”

Any other day Ana wouldn’t have put up with his attitude, but she could tell with the mood he was in she wouldn’t get anywhere. She gave him one more worried look before excusing herself and leaving his office.

Even with her gone, the whispering didn’t stop.  _ She doesn’t actually care. She never did. She thinks you’re weak. _ Gabriel grabbed his head and groaned. He needed this to stop. He needed everything to stop.  _ Maybe she’s right, maybe you are weak. Maybe that’s why Jack got to run Overwatch and you were forgotten. _

Gabriel didn’t know what came over him. He just knew he was shouting in frustration and he needed to hit something. When he came back to himself, his papers were on the ground, there was a hole in his wall, and his knuckles were bloody. His hand hurt, but it made the voice stop. That’s all that mattered.

*

Gabriel could be fine one minute and completely enraged the next. His change in attitude and how he carried himself worried the others, that much was obvious. He wanted to tell them it was fine, but he knew damn well it wasn’t. He just didn’t know how to admit that he was hearing voices, he was seeing things, his dreams weren’t just bothering him at night-- they followed him wherever he went.

He didn’t know when he started listening to what the voices said. He just knew he stopped seeing Jack as someone he could trust and started seeing him as a threat. Jack stole a completely different life from him. Maybe if he had commanded Overwatch instead of Jack, he wouldn’t be losing his mind right now. It was Jack’s fault.

Gabe was just getting back from a mission with Genji and Jesse when things went from going steadily downhill to full on barrelling down with no stop in sight. The mission itself was fine. The ride home was tense-- Gabriel was getting a headache. He needed to be alone but there was still hours left. It was when they got back that things fell apart.

It was almost like everything changed the second Gabriel stepped back onto base. Suddenly the scenery wasn’t the watchpoint, it was the omnic crisis again. The battlefields, the death, the carnage. He felt something tugging on his arm-- an enemy?-- so he reacted before the enemy could hurt him. He felt himself choking something, surely not an omnic, but there were human enemies too.

From far away he could hear shouting. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but he heard it. It sounded panicked. Maybe if he finished the enemy off quicker, they’d stop yelling. He squeezed tighter, felt something in his gut immediately tell him to stop, but he didn’t. It was only when he felt something sharp against his neck that he processed something was off. Who fought with a knife in a war?

No one did, they had guns. He vaguely processed it was too big to be a knife. It dawned on him that it was a sword pressed against his neck, the shouting was coming from Genji. He wasn’t in the war, he was at watchpoint Gibraltar. He wasn’t hurting an enemy, he was hurting--

“Jesse, fuck,” Gabriel immediately pulled his hands away once he realized what he was doing.

Jesse started coughing and gasping for air the second Gabriel let go. The sword pressed against Gabriel’s neck went away for a second and Gabe could hear Genji moving behind him. Before he could process it, Genji was in front of him shoving him away from Jesse.

“What the hell was that!” Genji shouted.

Gabriel tried to say something but his mouth wasn’t working. He didn’t know what to say. He really attacked Jesse?

“Genji stop--” Jesse tried, but was cut off by another cough.

“Jesse…” Gabriel said softly, “I-I…”

“Genji calm down!” Ana’s voice caught Gabriel off guard. Where had she come from? Had she been there? Did she see what happened? “Get Jesse to Angela, can you do that for me?”

“Yes, but-”

“You’ve done enough. Thank you, but I can handle the rest.”

Genji reluctantly nodded. He helped Jesse up then the two left without another word. The silence hung heavy between Ana and Gabriel.

“What happened?” Gabriel asked, though he already knew the answer deep down. “What did I do?”

“You attacked Jesse. You could have killed him.” Ana said, avoiding eye contact, “Gabriel...I’m not taking no for an answer anymore. Whatever is going on with you…”

“I need help.” Gabriel admitted, “I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I wasn’t here, it wasn’t Jesse I thought I was attacking…”

Ana let out a shaky sigh and walked over to Gabriel. She put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes, trying to be as confident as she could be.

“Whatever is happening, you’ll get through it. I’ll help you as much as I can, if you ever need someone to talk to or...or if you need me to tell you where you are, who you’re with… You can trust me.”

Gabriel felt tears stinging his eyes, but he resisted the urge to cry and nodded. He wouldn’t break down, not here. It got harder to hold himself back when Ana hugged him, but he managed. He just wanted to focus on the idea that he could get through this. Ana would help and things would be fine. He’d be ok.

*

Ana Amari was dead. Gabriel had no idea how to handle the news. It didn’t seem real at first. He’d known Ana for years and she’d always come back from her injuries just fine. Ana couldn’t be dead.

“Gabriel…” Jack said softly, “I’m sorry…”

“You’re lying.”

“I wouldn’t lie about this.”

“Shut the fuck up Jack! This is all your fault! You...fuck, you could have done something!” Gabriel shouted, not caring about the way Jack looked so deeply hurt by his words.  _ Good _ , he thought,  _ Feel hurt. Feel what I’m feeling. _

“Gabe...I know you’re upset,”

“Don’t talk to me like we’re friends.” Gabriel spat.

Jack was stunned into silence. Gabriel could see the confusion and the hurt all over Jack’s face and he wanted to feel bad about it, but he didn’t. It made him feel satisfied. The satisfaction almost made him feel sick if some twisted part of him didn’t tell him Jack deserved this.

“Gabriel I fucking need you right now.” Jack admitted, close to tears, “I don’t know what I did to make you hate me so much but I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, I never meant to upset you or hurt you with whatever I did. But you’re my best friend,  _ please, _ don’t do this right now.”

“Don’t put this on me. You know damn fucking well what you did.”

“I don’t, I really don’t, Gabe, please just…”

Gabriel scoffed, muttering “of course you don’t” as if that excused his behavior. That voice in the back of his mind kept telling him Jack brought this on himself and that Gabriel didn’t need to explain himself. Jack didn’t deserve an explanation. Especially not now when Ana was dead because of him.

“I love you, you know that…” Jack tried. “You know how fucking much you mean to me.”

Gabriel’s expression softened just a bit. Why did he have to sound so sincere? It made it harder to stay angry at him...but that was the plan right? Jack was just saying it to manipulate him, surely, and Gabriel refused to fall for it. Gabriel frowned.

“Don’t lie to me. This shit is why I can’t stand you.”

“I’m not--”

“Jack, if you say one more goddamn thing, I’m punching you in that perfect fucking face of yours everyone loves so much.”

Jack didn’t say a word. Gabriel didn’t say anything for a long time, he just stood there glaring a hole into the floor. It was only when he decided he had nothing else to say that he left, his shoulder purposefully bumping into Jack on the way out.

He tried to pretend he didn’t hear Jack break down as he left.

*

Jesse left. Genji left. Ana was dead. Fareeha wouldn’t talk to anyone. Gabriel’s relationship with Jack was destroyed and it was his own fault. He wished things were different. He wished he didn’t attack Jack just moments before. He wished they didn’t fight like they had and he wished that they had even a chance of living through this. The building was coming down around them, there was no way out. Gabriel was far too injured to make it out.

“Gabe!” Jack’s voice cut through his thoughts. He heard heavy footsteps running toward where he lay. His leg was crushed by a chunk of debris that had fallen from the ceiling. He was done for. “Gabriel, oh shit…”

“Jack…” For the first time in months, Gabriel felt like his mind was free. No more voices, no more hallucinations, no more violent outbursts… “I’m so fucking sorry…”

“Don’t. Don’t apologize, we’ll fix this when we get out of here.”

“I’m not making it out of here alive.” Gabriel forced out, “You know that.”

“I’m not losing you.” Jack said it with so much conviction, it made Gabriel want to cry.

“I’m already lost, Jack. I’ve been lost, I don’t know what the hell happened to me… I didn’t mean to do any of this.”

Jack kneeled next to him, trying to figure out a way to safely get Gabriel out from under the debris, but his mind wasn’t working how he needed it to. Gabriel’s words were crushing him. It felt like the first time he was truly talking to Gabriel in a long time. Not whatever spiteful being had taken his place.

“There’s a bomb in the basement. It’s going to bring the whole place down… I need you to get out before it goes off.” Gabriel said, “Leave me here. Go.”

“I’m not leaving you here. We’re getting out of this together.” Jack liked to think his voice didn’t crack horribly as he spoke. “I’m not going to lose you like this.”

“I tried to kill you and you’re not giving up on me.” Gabriel let out a sad laugh that quickly turned into tears, “Jack…I’m only going to hurt you. Leave me here.”

“No.” Jack stressed, “You’re my best friend. You’re my soulmate. I love you too much, I can’t leave you here knowing you’ll die.”

Jack began moving the debris holding Gabriel’s leg down. His shirt was torn to shreds basically, leaving his arms exposed. Gabriel could see his name written in neat letters on Jack’s arm. He wondered how different things could have been if they’d just taken advantage of the fact that they were each other’s soulmates. He wonders if his own mind could have manipulated him so easily if they’d been lovers.

“We never addressed it.” Gabriel said, catching Jack’s attention, “We both knew it but we never did a damn thing about it.”

“It’s never too late.” Jack said softly, “When we get out of this...we can be more. If that’s what you want. We can try.”

“After all the horrible things I’ve said to you in the past few months… You should hate me.” Gabriel groaned in discomfort as Jack lifted the debris off of his leg, “Fuck, it hurts.”

“I know…” Jack helped Gabriel to sit up and tried to figure out what to do next. “Alright… How much longer do we have until that bomb goes off?”

“I don’t know...three minutes if we’re lucky.”

“I can carry you out of here in three minutes.” Jack said, determined.

Gabriel wanted to believe him but he knew Jack was stretching it. There was no way he’d manage to get them both out of there in three minutes. He reached into his pocket and took out the knife he kept with him. He wasn’t going to let Jack sacrifice himself. Not like this.

“Gabriel--”

Jack didn’t have the time to tell Gabriel to stop before he was plunging the knife into his chest. Gabriel used the last of his strength to push Jack away and tell him once more to go, leave him behind. Jack could only watch in horror as Gabriel choked on his own blood.

“Gabe...fuck…”

“Go…” Gabriel forced out again, “Please…”

Everything felt light to Gabriel. It hurt, but not as much as he thought it would. He finally felt like he could sleep. For a moment, everything felt fine. He could see Jack stand up start leaving, he thought about how at least Jack would be ok even if he wouldn’t be. For that small moment everything was alright.

And then it hurt. It hurt far worse than the knife had. It hurt worse than the name Reaper appearing on his arm, it hurt worse than the bullet he’d taken for Jack. It felt like he was choking all over again, this time on smoke. He forced himself to look around him and saw a black smoke surrounding him. A voice in the back of his mind spoke again,

_ You’re mine now _

He felt he wasn’t alone in his mind, in his body. It terrified him. It hurt. He found all he could do was scream.

Jack turned and froze at the sight. He didn’t know how to describe what he was seeing;  _ something  _ was on Gabriel, hurting him, seemingly trying to carve out a way inside of him. He didn’t have time to make sense of the situation before the ground began shaking beneath his feet. The bomb had gone off and the ground was falling apart. Jack couldn’t move. He could only watch as Gabriel and whatever had been on him fell with the ground.


End file.
